Good Things Going on in Manistee County
This is the first installment in a series of blogs about the entrepreneurial mettle that Manistee is relying on to move forward in Michigan’s changing economy.
As Michigan continues the fight to right itself economically and scrambles to find models to follow and examples that inspire, our business and government leaders should take a look at a few things happening in Manistee County. I recently had the good fortune of taking a day to check out some of the success stories there, thanks to a tour hosted by county local Tim Ervin. (A tour, by the way, that included a stop at a movie set where Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Cliff Clavin were hanging out, but in different incarnations—more later.)
Web research tells us blog postings are supposed to be brief or nobody will read them, which in this case is going to be difficult because I learned of so much great stuff. So what I’ll do is write up my tour in a series of posts. Also I promise you can expect to learn more about some of these topics in upcoming issues of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine.
So, here goes:
Stop 1: Schmidt Outfitters. At first glance, Schmidt Outfitters, tucked into the tiny town of Wellston, in the heart of the Manistee National Forest, doesn’t seem to represent the kind of industry that Michigan leaders mention when they discuss our future. But the affable Ray Schmidt has things to teach anybody going into business in Michigan these days. From his small fly shop far from the crowds, and not even on a busy road or a river, he has built a small fly-fishing kingdom. He has a smartly stocked store (he sells 90,000 flies a year), offers classes and runs nearly 1,300 fly-fishing trips a year through here, including hosting international trips. Though his business will never employ 10,000 people, his spirit and commitment to a dream are exactly the kind of thing Michigan needs right now.
One thought to share. We talked about how to get kids into the outdoors, and specifically into fly-fishing. Schmidt offers free youth classes—last year his program taught 58 kids to fish, with gear donated by his suppliers—and he made this point: He never donates to any outdoor-oriented non-profit unless they have a good youth recruitment program.
Oh yeah, there was also fish talk to be had, because Tim Ervin is an obsessive fisherman, like Schmidt. Ervin had just finished second in a Lake Michigan fishing tournament the previous weekend. “I hadn’t caught lake trout that big in 15 years,” he said. The two men speculated that the lake trout were growing huge because there were so many invasive round gobis to eat. Ahh the complexity of an ecosystem and come to think of it, in some ways an economic metaphor in there too: when the old food source declines, find something else to grow on.
Coming up:
A walk downtown with Manistee's Mayor Cyndy Fuller
Checking in with the new windmill manufacturer
Stopping by the movie set and meeting two young film entrepreneurs
Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
Check it:
Manistee beaches
Mountain bike nearby
Shop Manistee
As Michigan continues the fight to right itself economically and scrambles to find models to follow and examples that inspire, our business and government leaders should take a look at a few things happening in Manistee County. I recently had the good fortune of taking a day to check out some of the success stories there, thanks to a tour hosted by county local Tim Ervin. (A tour, by the way, that included a stop at a movie set where Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Cliff Clavin were hanging out, but in different incarnations—more later.)
Web research tells us blog postings are supposed to be brief or nobody will read them, which in this case is going to be difficult because I learned of so much great stuff. So what I’ll do is write up my tour in a series of posts. Also I promise you can expect to learn more about some of these topics in upcoming issues of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine.
So, here goes:
Stop 1: Schmidt Outfitters. At first glance, Schmidt Outfitters, tucked into the tiny town of Wellston, in the heart of the Manistee National Forest, doesn’t seem to represent the kind of industry that Michigan leaders mention when they discuss our future. But the affable Ray Schmidt has things to teach anybody going into business in Michigan these days. From his small fly shop far from the crowds, and not even on a busy road or a river, he has built a small fly-fishing kingdom. He has a smartly stocked store (he sells 90,000 flies a year), offers classes and runs nearly 1,300 fly-fishing trips a year through here, including hosting international trips. Though his business will never employ 10,000 people, his spirit and commitment to a dream are exactly the kind of thing Michigan needs right now.
One thought to share. We talked about how to get kids into the outdoors, and specifically into fly-fishing. Schmidt offers free youth classes—last year his program taught 58 kids to fish, with gear donated by his suppliers—and he made this point: He never donates to any outdoor-oriented non-profit unless they have a good youth recruitment program.
Oh yeah, there was also fish talk to be had, because Tim Ervin is an obsessive fisherman, like Schmidt. Ervin had just finished second in a Lake Michigan fishing tournament the previous weekend. “I hadn’t caught lake trout that big in 15 years,” he said. The two men speculated that the lake trout were growing huge because there were so many invasive round gobis to eat. Ahh the complexity of an ecosystem and come to think of it, in some ways an economic metaphor in there too: when the old food source declines, find something else to grow on.
Coming up:
A walk downtown with Manistee's Mayor Cyndy Fuller
Checking in with the new windmill manufacturer
Stopping by the movie set and meeting two young film entrepreneurs
Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
Check it:
Manistee beaches
Mountain bike nearby
Shop Manistee
Tags: economic growth, jeff smith, manistee, manistee county, michigan, ray schmidt, schmidt outfitters, tim ervin
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